True Wings
by Silver Writing Bug
Summary: I, Uzumaki Naruto, am an angel. Welcome to the story of my life. Original story by RuningInCircles.
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer: No, I don't own Naruto.**

I always knew I was different.

It was never, ever how the other little kids felt. You know, the, "I'm invincible! I'm so much better than you!" and stuff like that. No, I was way past those kinds of childish fantasies at a very early age. My life was one filled with hardships, troubles and I could never have survived as long as I did still clinging to something as foolish as that.

At first, I was confused why no one else saw the way I did. Didn't they know what it was like to go hungry? Why were they so confused when I told them how hard it was to get a decent place to sleep at night? I had always been forced to learn quickly (_or die_), and soon discovered that they actually had homes; that they had soft beds to sleep in at night, that they had good food to eat every day. To me, it sounded like they were spoiled—however I learned that this was the norm for most kids, and that I was the odd one out.

I was _different. _

Also, most kids actually enjoyed their birthdays; they didn't loathe their birthday's with the same passion I did. In fact, they even got presents! It was a time to be happy, not run away from drunken mobs and hope you would last till morning (thankfully that was the only time the drunk mobs got bold enough to actually try anything, what with the ANBU that usually followed me around). Everything about this pointed to one thing:

I was different. And not in a good way.

So I kept my head down. Tried not to stir up to much trouble, to give people a reason to avoid me, because that was obviously what they wanted to do. Really, I had enough on my plate, and I didn't need much more. Though you know… there never is much rest for the martyr.

I examined my appearance in the mirror. Six odd scars showed obnoxiously on my cheeks, giving me a mischievous look that made most people label me as a trouble-maker. Bright blonde hair, paired with unnatural blue eyes that would make anyone stand out in any crowd. Oh yes, I didn't need anything to make me any more noticeable than I already was.

I knew Lady Luck was cackling madly at me when I turned around, exposing my bare back to the mirror. Exposing the two hawk-like wings folded gracefully on my back.

Yes, just my luck.

I, Uzumaki Naruto, am an angel.

It happened when I was born.

You know the story, and I sure don't want to have to explain it _again. _The Kyuubi attacked, bad-ass Yondaime sealed the nine-tailed fox into some poor kid (me, by the way), and he died. Leaving said kid (me) with a terrible burden no newborn should have to deal with. At least, that's the story everyone else knows. _Technically _it's true.

See, there was a little problem with the sealing. When I was born, I wasn't exactly the strongest child; in fact, I should've been in the hospital, and most likely would've stayed there for weeks before I was even allowed out. However the Yondaime had no other choice, and just hoped for the best. The best wasn't enough; it was obvious I would not last the sealing.

However the Shinigami gave it's word to the Yondaime, and a Shinigami _never _goes back on its word. If I died, the Kyuubi would be let back out, and then it'd be back to square one. The Shinigami could heal, of course, but a normal human—especially a child would never be able to take the Shinigami's power. So the Shinigami made me into something he could save: an angel. Of course, the Shinigami knew that it would be a little problematic if he brought back a child to the Underworld, so he devised a plan that allowed me to get the full angel attributes in stages.

The first stage was the easiest, or perhaps the hardest; learning exactly what I was. It first happened when I was six…

_I quickly peeked out from behind the building, feeling semi-exposed. I cursed my bad luck. To be caught outside, alone, at night, especially today! Hadn't I learned my lesson the first time this had happened? I knew I could worry about my stupidity later, but for now I had to focus on simply getting home without getting the attention of all the drunks in the bar. _

_Why did the bar have to be on the only street that didn't have any other escape routes? _

"_C'mon." I muttered to myself. "Just run, real quick, they won't notice you!" As experienced as I was for a child, it still didn't change the fact that I was a child. A stupid, snotty, loud-mouthed little child. _

_I whipped around the building and ran in a dead sprint, trying to be so quick they wouldn't notice me. Unfortunately some of them were ninja, and they're especially dangerous when they're drunk. They don't have any self-control; they don't have a problem with beating up a defenseless little kid, or the brain to think of the consequences if they did._

"_Where do you think you're going, little brat?" I heard a shout, and felt rather than saw the kunai that embedded itself into my foot. Curse my lack of shoes!_

_I shrieked with pain as the kunai did what it was supposed to do—hold me in place so I couldn't run. Then I realized the one who had thrown the kunai—and his cronies—were all advancing on me. Gritting my teeth, I yanked the kunai out and tossed it aside, not wasting a moment before I took off again. However the wound in my foot got in the way; all I could manage was a slow, limping run. When I heard the people behind me laughing, I knew they were just playing with me. _

_I took an alley to the left, hoping that none of the drunks knew the back-streets of Konoha like I did. My prayers were answered, because I couldn't hear the shouts anymore. Weaving a bit more just to make sure I'd lost them, I finally arrived at the back-door of the apartment building. _

_And that was when all hell broke loose. _

_Now I know that they were just giving me false hope until the last moment, making me believe that I had actually escaped unscathed. My child self hadn't known that, so preoccupied with escaping. The ploy had worked, and I had had to deal with the consequences. _

_It was all a blur, and I can't quite remember it all… a kick coming towards my face, raising a hand to block it, feeling blows over the rest of my body not quite sure where it was coming from spitting blood feel the world darken…_

_The last thing I remember was a burst of golden light, and someone screaming._

"—_the hell are we supposed to do? Shrimp nearly gets himself killed—"_

"_David! Watch your language!"_

"_Why do we have to be the ones to take care of him? I swear, Jiji is so soft hearted sometimes!" _

"_Don't you remember? He gave his word! Don't insult Shinigami-sama like that!" _

"_You just worship him because he's your father, and if he disappears you'll be the new Shinigami!" _

"_David, I would never—"_

"_Nnn…" _

_Both the voices froze abruptly. _

"_Is he awake?" _

"Now _look what you've done! You're shouting woke him up!"_

"My _shouting? _My shouting? _You're the one who was ragging on me, Mary, and I swear to God I will—"_

"_David Aenaisaigo! You little rat! You're a disgrace of an angel!"_

"_Sh-Shut up…" I moaned quietly, not quite able to take their shouting any longer. _

"_See? He wants you to shut up." _

"_He didn't specify which one of us! I'll bet it was you, David, you nasty, evil little delinquent! The reason you got assigned to him was because you're on community service! If you hadn't given that Fountain of Youth to the mortal you wouldn't be in this mess!" _

"_Quiet!" I roared, shooting up furiously. "Can't you two ever shut up? You're giving me a migraine!"_

"_See? It was both of you. I'm starting to like this kid." _

"_Shut _up, _Ezekiel."_

_I was greeted by the sight of three people, each dressed in the same glaring white color with gold accents. However, each outfit had some small differences: The one called 'David' wore a white hood, and his sleeves were cut jaggedly up to his shoulders. He wore black boots, which had gold spangles. The only woman of the group, the one called 'Mary', wore her dress simply and elegantly, everything cut cleanly and no ragged edges. Her dress was long and flowing, and had only one sleeve, which displayed her porcelain skin and elegant shoulders. The final man, 'Ezekiel', wore his clothing simply and without embellishments. However I actually favored his clothing the most, because it didn't hurt my eyes to look at. _

_They were all _gorgeous.

_David had almost white blonde hair and electric blue eyes, which had a mischievous sparkle in them. He had powerful, muscled arms and a bright white smile that seemed to light up the room. Everything about him screamed, 'rebel'. _

_Mary had porcelain skin, and everything she did had elegance and grace in it. Her bronze hair was twisted up into a simple bun on the back of her head, and I was slightly shocked to see two quizzical, golden eyes staring out at me. _

_Ezekiel was probably the most interesting person I'd ever seen; he had black, curly hair that turned his head into a mop, and two lazy purple eyes that looked extremely sleepy. He had the same deathly white skin as the other two. _

_The most interesting thing about them, however, was probably the giant wings on their backs. _

_David's wings were white, though they had a subtle but unmistakable golden tinge. They were enormous compared to him (now I noticed that he was significantly shorter than the other two), and twitched every once in a while, almost demonstrating his energy. _

_Mary's wings were pure white, a white so pure it outshone the freshly fallen snow. The wings sat perfectly still, almost politely. _

_Ezekiel's wings were the most interesting wings out of all of them; they were pure black, with a gentle silver sheen surrounding them. His wings were the biggest, even bigger than David's; they framed him mysteriously, and always seemed to be moving, but not like the seemingly random movement of David's wings. The movements were precise and subtle. _

_Ezekiel noticed me staring at his wings, and extended one almost lazily so I could get a better look. I had to admit—they were the most beautiful things I'd ever seen. _

"_Show-and-tell's over, Zeke. I want to get this done with." It was David, who grinned at my stunned look. _

"_Show some respect to Ezekiel, David!"_

"_Really, Mary, it's fine." _

"_No, Ezekiel, it's not fine! This delinquent—"_

"_She gave me the puppy dog look! You couldn't resist that look! Well, maybe Ezekiel, since he's—"_

"_Another word and you'll know why I'm the right hand man of Shinigami-sama."_

"_Who are you? Why are you here? Who sent you?" I interrupted, tired of their ceaseless bickering. _

"_I'm sure you already know _who _we are." Ezekiel rumbled. "It's _what _we are is the question." _

"_We're angels." Mary cut in. _

_I blinked. "Angels…? Um, like people with wings? Immortal? Stuff like that?" _

"_Yes, I suppose, if that's what you would describe us as. We also happen to be Shinigami-sama's workers. We do the errands that Shinigami-sama is too lazy—too busy to do." Ezekiel quickly corrected his slip up, and David snickered into his hand. _

"_Oh… so am I dead?" I asked bluntly. After all, what else would they be here for? _

"_No, Naruto-kun. Look behind you." _

_I turned my head slowly, and gasped at what I saw. It looked so out of place, I had to reach out and touch them to make sure they were there. _

_I had wings. _

_I had _wings.

"_H-How…?" I stuttered, watching the two hawk-like wings with shock. _

"_You don't physically have them—not right now, anyway. Uzumaki Naruto, you are an angel." _

_That's when my brain went into overload and I fainted. _

"_Well, he took it better than I thought he would." Mary remarked, watching as I slowly woke back up. _

"_How can you just accuse someone of being an angel?" I groaned, slowly rising to my feet. _

"_I'm not accusing you, I'm telling you that you're an angel." Ezekiel corrected. _

"_You're insane! Angels are immortal, and loved, and, you know… beautiful and stuff like that! There's no way _I'm _an angel!" _

_Ezekiel and Mary exchanged a look, and David just frowned deeply. "Don't sell yourself short, kid." David was the one who said this, surprisingly. His voice was soft, and his eyes were clear, and almost… understanding. They were perhaps the nicest eyes I'd ever seen. _

"_When the Yondaime sealed the Kyuubi into you, Naruto—"_

_Mary was interrupted by my choking noise. "W-What?"_

"_Oh, you don't know?" David shrugged. "See, no mere mortal can kill the Kyuubi (though the Yondaime could give him a run for his money), so he sealed the Kyuubi into a child. That child, was you."_

"_W-Wha…?" I managed to get out, feeling the world closing in around me. _

"_He needed a little shrimp, so the chakra coils could adapt to Kyuubi's potent chakra. You were available, I guess." David finished his explanation._

"_Anyway, you were real close to death and wouldn't last the sealing, so Shinigami-sama decided to heal you. However, no mere mortal can withstand Shinigami-sama's chakra, so he had to turn you into something… a little more than mortal. You'll turn into an angel in stages, though, so you don't get too overwhelmed by all of this." The words that Mary was speaking were soft and far away, but I was still able to comprehend what was being said. _

"_Uzumaki Naruto, you are an angel." Was the last thing I heard before blacking out for the last time. _

At first, I had been disbelieving. Me, an angel? However, the angels were always there when I slept or got knocked out, and eventually I came to terms with my surprising immortality. Things started happening that hadn't happened before; I had unbeatable luck, I was… how do you put it? I looked a lot nicer than I originally did, and my blood had almost imperceptible golden flecks in it.

However, with the addition of my wings, it was going to be so much harder to hide it.

Life's a bitch.

**Okay, hey, it's me! Silver Writing Bug! Back from the dead, it seems. Heh heh. Anyway, in case you were wondering, yes, I did rewrite the first chapter. And delete the second chapter. Why? Because the writing doesn't fit each other, and it flows all funky. Anyway, I hope that this version is better than the other version! **

**Silver Writing Bug**


	2. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: No, I don't own Naruto. I might, though, after the completion of my evil, diabolical plan. Yeah, right.**

_The day before_

"Alright, gaki, it's time to kick it into high gear. You got everything, right?"

I rolled my eyes at David. "I'm not six years old anymore, David. Yes, I got everything."

Mary frowned at me apprehensively, smoothing her already impeccable curls back and tossing her head thoughtfully. She hadn't changed at all in the span of six years; in fact, none of them had changed at all. I was the only one who had.

"Naruto, this is a very important day! If you pass the genin test, you're going to be forced into the next stage, whether you're ready for it or not. We don't know what's going to happen, so we need to be prepared for anything."

Ezekiel nodded seriously, purple eyes taking me in coolly. "Mary is right, and so is David, believe it or not. We don't know if you'll gain something subtle—immortality or heightened senses, or something very obvious, like the wings or… well..." Ezekiel smirked. "Spoilers."

As I cursed Ezekiel's name for his nasty secret keeping, Mary caught my attention with the snap of her fingers. "If you're getting you're wings, you'll know it. You'll have a few hours to prepare if you know you're getting them, so it should be enough for you to hide somewhere safe. You'll be a little vulnerable during that period of time, I'm afraid." Mary began pacing, loose dress trailing behind her. "If you get immortality, it will be a little harder to tell. You can't exactly go off killing yourself, and you would blow our cover if you went picking a suicide fight. Let's hope either Kyuubi or we will know. Now heightened senses," Mary frowned, "That will probably be the toughest. At least you can hide you're wings, but heightened sense will be tougher to hide over a longer period of time. Also, most likely the sights and sounds will overwhelm you, so you'll probably need a little while to adjust."

I shrugged, rolling my shoulders to loosen them up. "I'll get what I get, Mary. Besides, I have you guys. What could possibly go wrong?"

David grinned mischievously. "Famous last words, gaki."

Once again I had to roll my eyes at him.

"Naruto, we want you to know that even if you fail today, we're still very proud of you." Ezekiel smiled softly, trying to placate me. He could always tell what I was feeling at the moment, not matter how hard I tried to hide it; at that moment, the nervousness was probably rolling off me in waves. His words helped, just a little.

"Of course, Naruto. You've been trained by heavenly beings! You're one of the best."

Now that was exaggerating a little, but I really needed a strong pick-me-upper. "Yeah! I'm the best of the best! No one can beat me!"

Mary sighed and frowned deeper. "David, what have I told you about putting stupid ideas in his head like that?"

"Ah come on you old bat, you know he doesn't really believe it!"

"Old bat! _Old bat? _I'm not much older than you, you traitorous little creep!"

"Traitorous little _creep? _I didn't do anything!"

"All that little mortal whelp had to do was bat her eyelashes to get you to give her one of the greatest treasures of the mortal world!"

"Aw come on, the Fountain of Youth isn't halfway across the universe, we could always get some more!"

"David, you little—"

_RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING! !_

"Oh, lookie there!" I chirped, happy for the distraction. Once you got those two started they'd never shut up. "It's my alarm clock. Time for school. Bye!"

Mary and David barely glanced up, saying "bye" unanimously, and Ezekiel glared up at me. He was obviously displeased I was leaving him to deal with the two lovebirds. I mock saluted him before disappearing on the spot.

* * *

"God dammit, stop that…" I muttered, throwing out a lazy fist in hope of hitting the off button.

_RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING!_

My eyes flashed open, catching the alarm clock in a deadly glare. It continued to ring, innocently blinking the time to me. I innocently smashed my fist down onto, effectively shattering the thing to little bits.

_Riiing…_ It wailed mournfully. I chucked it out the window.

**Kit… That was the second one this week! It's getting ridiculous. If you don't stop I'll force my chakra into your coils and rupture them.**

I shivered, knowing the Kyuubi was not threatening me; he was _telling _me he'd rupture my chakra coils. He'd actually do it. _And _he won't have to worry about interrupting my training; my coils would painfully heal themselves in a few hours.

'Yeah, yeah…you say that every time, Kyuu-chan.' I retorted, knowing I was pushing the 'safely tease Kyuubi line'.

**Graah! I'll kill that brat! That son of a bitch angel freak with the superiority complex—**

Ah, I should've known. David and Kyuubi have a history, apparently. David told us that he called Kyuubi Kyuu-chan and, well, it just sort of…stuck. Though how David is able to casually call Kyuubi _Kyuu-chan_ and still get away with it is beyond me.

Tuning Kyuubi out, I began to check and see if I really did have everything. Kunai pouch, check. Seals and tags, check. Supplies, check. Trusty goggles? Check. Clothes? Check. Funky assortment of random pranks items and gadgets? Check, and check. _Alright! Looks like I'm all prepared and stuff! _

I fingered my goggles, really hoping it would be the last time I ever felt them on my face. After all, three years was a long time to wear them…but I'd promised to myself, that I would wear these goddamn goggles until I passed the academy. I'd take them off at the next stage, and—oh. That's right… the next stage. In truth, it was something that scared me even more than the academy tests. I didn't know what would happen—didn't know how things would play out. Would I get my wings? Immortality?

I know everyone else would think, _Oh, cool! Wings! Immortality! _But that's not what I think. I know that as soon as the next stage passes, I'll be a little more than human. A little farther from normal, as if I wasn't far enough away. And when someone finds out, everything, how not normal I am, how… unlike them, and when they all turn away for good…I think it might kill me.

I'm thinking _way _too hard about this.

Waving good-bye to the plant in the corner and saluting the ramen in the cupboard, I leapt out the window and onto the roof, making my way towards the academy.

Showtime.

* * *

Umino Iruka stood at the front of the class, calling out names.

"Aburame?"

Shino nodded his head, dark glasses glinting.

"Akimichi?"

Chouji raised one hand, other hand buried deep in his chip bag.

"Aoki?"

A non-descript side character raised his hand for the sake of the story.

"Fujita?"

Another non-descript side character.

"Goto?"

See above.

"Haruno?"

Sakura raised one slim arm, tilting her head as discreetly (read: obviously) as she could to keep Sasuke in her sights.

"Hayagawa?"

"He's sick again, sensei!" Kiba shouted out from the crowd, looking extremely smug.

"Hyuuga?"

Hinata's pale eyes darted around to see if anyone was watching, before raising a trembling, slim hand.

"I don't even need to ask about you, Kiba…" Iruka muttered, ignoring the boy's indignant cry. His eyes traveled to the next name."Mori?"

"Here, Iruka-sensei!" A little girl (yet another non-descript side character) waved her hand wildly to catch Iruka's attention.

"Yes, there you are…" The teacher muttered. "Nara?"

There was a long pause.

"Nara? Nara Shikamaru?"

"He's here, sensei." Chouji said, nudging his best friend's sleeping form. "Just sleeping."

Shikamaru grunted and shifted a bit in his sleep.

"Suzuki?" No one answered, and looked towards the empty chair. "Has anyone seen Suzuki today?" Iruka asked, glancing around at the kids' faces. "No? Well, we'll catch him later. Uchiha?"

Sasuke raised his hand coolly, though the only hint Iruka needed was the swooning of many Sasuke fangirls.

"…Alright. Uzumaki?"

A few of the kids snickered, obviously amused by the fact that I was missing class. I was, after all, the dead last and the Kyuubi container. People always found it funny when I got hurt or into trouble.

"Naruto? Does anyone know where that boy is?"

"Probably skipping class again, sensei!" Kiba called out.

Iruka clenched his fist, face slowly reddening. _He promised he wouldn't skip anymore classes, too! Wait till I get my hands on him—_

"Hey!" And that was where I made my entrance.

"Naruto!" Iruka shouted, a pissed off expression adorning his face.

"Hehe. Sorry, sensei. Just doing a last minute project before I graduate!" I grinned and rubbed the back of my neck like I usually do when I'm nervous. _Yeah, last minute. I just committed the riskiest prank I've ever done! I actually plan things before I do them, thank you very much. _

"What _kind _of last minute project?" Oops. He wasn't fooled.

"Um… you know, last minute project-y kind of stuff!" When in doubt, play stupid.

"Well, I suppose I can't force it out of you, so just sit down…" Iruka visibly deflated, looking defeated. Heh. Looks like my awesome-ness was too much for him to handle.

_I did not just think that. _I shook my head angrily, trying to bash those kinds of thoughts out of my head on the desk. Kyuubi and Mary had been so mad at me when those thoughts started coming, and had taken it upon themselves to beat the truth into me (Meaning they verbally assaulted me and told me that I was still a weak loser that couldn't handle the real world. It had taken a while for me to get it, but eventually the message got in: _There is always someone better than you. _I wasn't better than Sasuke yet, or Iruka, or the old man, or Kyuubi, or… so I needed to work harder.)

**I'm glad you're finally learning, kit. **Speak of the devil. The damned fox just had to step in.

While I had had my inner monologue going, Iruka had been finishing up the roll call. He quietly rolled up the list, put it on his immaculately neat desk and strode crisply to the front of the room. "Today is the genin exams, where you will be tested whether or not you're ready for the shinobi world." Iruka paused; making sure everyone was paying attention to him before continuing. "In the shinobi world…" That was about when I tuned him out, praying to god that he'd make this quick. _Inner calm…inner calm...inner—_

Suddenly, in my closed eyes the picture of Ezekiel popped up. Knowing better than to freak out and open my eyes, I stopped to regain my composure before asking in my mind, 'Ezekiel? What're you doing here?'

'Naruto… there's something I should tell you…' Ezekiel looked at the ground carefully. 'There's some business I need to take care of, so you might not see me for a while.'

I was extremely confused. 'What do you mean, Ezekiel? You've taken business trips before, why is this any different?'

'Naruto, I might not be coming back. _Ever_. As in, you know…' Ezekiel made a cutting motion to his neck.

I gasped out loud. 'Ezekiel, what do you mean? Where are you going?'

'I don't have much time, but there's one thing I can tell you: darkness is rising, and they need me to help stop it. You should be safe with Mary and David, but if you ever find someone like us, don't trust them. _Never _trust them. They need my help… with the war.'

With that, Ezekiel was gone.

"—ruto? Naruto? Naruto!" I felt a piece of chalk contact my forehead, leaving a big white mark. Dazed, I blinked up at my teacher. He looked slightly relieved, though it quickly morphed into anger. "Pay attention, or you'll never pass!" Shaking his head and giving me a half-hearted glare, he continued with his ultra-boring speech. Thankfully, my spacing had given him incentive to finish quicker. "If you pass, you'll be placed in three-man cell teams. Each team will do D-rank missions at first, but then you will slowly move up to C-rank missions and perhaps higher. Any questions?" No one looked willing to prod the subject. Iruka nodded in satisfaction. Giving me the we'll-talk-about-this-later look, he walked quickly to the door to the back room, calling out, "Aburame!" Before slipping inside.

"Hey, what _were _you doing, dead-last? Trying to put on your clothes in the morning without help from your mommy?" This earned a rough laugh from Kiba and a bark from Akumaru. Feh. Idiots. Laughing at their own jokes.

I growled angrily, wanting nothing more than to jump across the table and _strangle _Kiba. Of course, Sasuke had to put in his two cents.

"Dog-breath is right for once, dobe."

I turned and snarled angrily at Sasuke, my temper flying out of check. "As if you block-heads could comprehend the enormity of what I was doing!" Then I blinked, and blushed. Oops. I just _had _to pull out the big words. Kyuubi, Ezekiel and sometimes even David liked to try and impress each other with the use of enormous words. I joined the game. It's affecting me, even now!

Sasuke and Kiba blinked in surprise, obviously stunned by my flippant use of complex words. Kiba's mouth even dropped open (I laughed), his eyes widening to the size of miniature saucers. He was probably worried that his (sort of) partner in crime had grown a brain. Oh yeah, Kiba. Comprehend _that. _

"The hell, Naruto? For a second there, you sounded all… you know… _smart." _Kiba literally shivered at the thought.

"Hey, I can be smart when I want to be!" I snapped back, a little disappointed that Kiba doubted me so much.

"Yeah, right. That was just a fluke, dobe. Probably doesn't even know what the words _mean." _Sasuke smirked smugly, thinking he had me pegged.

Closing my eyes and slowly opening them again, I counted to three in my head to keep myself from blowing up at them. As much as I'd like to stun them all to hell with my impressive vocabulary, I knew the intelligence was just a side effect of me being an angel. I figured that I would slowly introduce them to the thought of me being an intelligent life-form instead of being mushy-brained. It wasn't working as well as I'd liked, but what can you do?

"Uchiha!" I blinked in surprise. That time already? I hadn't expected it to go so…quickly.

As Sasuke walked proudly down the steps, the girls swooned on either side of him, screaming his name. _Who _would fall in love with an _ice box _like _him?_ He doesn't have personality. Shino has more personality than that guy!

After perfect-teme Sasuke came out of the testing room, a hitai-ate clutched in one hand, I drummed my fingers nervously on the desk, knowing my fate was in that room. _C'mon, c'mon…_ I growled inwardly. I can do this! But… what if I can't? What if Mary and Kyuubi were right, that I was useless? That I couldn't do _anything?_ No, I couldn't doubt myself. If I started to doubt myself… it would mean I was giving up.

It felt suddenly felt really lonely without Ezekiel's reassuring, supporting hand on my back. He was going off to fight a war and might never come back; my…friend, my family; I might even go far enough to say he was the father I never had. He was gone, during one of the most important times of my life. Was that him saying he'd given up on me?

"Uzumaki." Sensei called. I shivered, gulped, and took a step towards my destiny.

**So...update!**

**Anyway, second chapter. Yeah, the first chapter was more of a prologue than an attribution to the actual storyline. It might be a little slow at first, but I hope it'll speed up as it goes. **

**The last names that are unfamiliar are just made up; I got them off a Japanese surname list, so if the names are bad or wrong or something tell me! I reeeeally hope that this story is better than the previous one. Thanks! **

**(By the way, if you have any questions just ask)**

**Silver Writing Bug**


	3. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: Uh…no? **

I stood nervously in front of my sensei's, trying to pour all of my nervousness into my eyes, which were staring at the floor. They were quiet, perhaps contemplating my silent, still figure to gauge my skill level. Finally, I glanced up. On the left, Iruka-sensei, familiar and…almost family, I guess. On the right, Mizuki-sensei, unfamiliar and cold. I'd always felt he had bad intentions about him. There was something about his sickly sweet kindness that had always put me on edge. Usually I'm a pretty good judge of character; sometimes I think it's another side effect of being an angel and all, but I really hope it isn't. Just another thing to set me apart from the rest of my peers.

"Hello, Naruto. Let's get started." Apparently they were finished with their scan.

The first part was the normal mumbo-jumbo; throw the kunai at the target, some stealth info, normal stuff that normal ninja know. It was easy for me, what with Ezekiel's tutoring sessions after the academy was over for the day, since some of the teachers tried to sabotage me. He helped me understand, and then some. Inwardly, I contemplated our little makeshift family; David was my rebellious older teenage brother, Mary my 'perfect' older teenage sister, Ezekiel the father who kept us in line, and Kyuubi, the strong, over-powerful, sadistic grandfather.

Wow. Dysfunctional family.

"Alright, Naruto, very good." Iruka said happily, looking slightly hopeful. No matter how hard he was on me, I knew that all he wanted was the best for me; that he wanted me to pass, to succeed and go beyond even that.

"Last thing, Naruto. Three Bunshin." Sensei smiled at me encouragingly, and I smiled back. Maybe… I would pass!

Just my luck, though, that bunshin was one of the only techniques I couldn't do. Ezekiel was baffled as to why, at first, as was Mary and David, but then Kyuubi had cut in and said that I just had too much chakra and too little control to correctly perform the technique. The angels had scrambled to teach me some chakra control techniques in time, but it wasn't working. I hadn't tried the bunshin in favor of the other techniques, but I hoped my training had paid off.

My hands flew through the hand-seals, feeling them through muscle memory. _Work…! _I begged. The chakra formed around my fingers, tingling slightly, and I guided it as best as I could, trying to get them to form the shape that I wanted. Remembered my training, what I had worked so hard at, and finished the technique. I didn't dare look, in case I'd created another mess. _Let it have worked!_

"Naruto…" Iruka sighed, and my heart dropped to my stomach. "I'm sorry, you fail." He scratched something out on his paper, which might as well have been a big, fat, red X.

"Ah, c'mon Iruka. He managed to create three this time!" Mizuki chided and my heart soared. Maybe my judge of character was wrong? Was he actually on my side? Then my eyes flickered to the clones, and I groaned. Two of them looked like they wanted to go die in a corner, and the other was glowing a soft gold and didn't have any arms. I dispelled the failed clones quickly, hoping no one had noticed the strange glow. _That was new. _

"Mizuki, I…Naruto, you…I'm sorry, Naruto."

_I'm sorry, Naruto. _

Three years in a row, I'd heard that sentence.

Three times I'd failed.

First dismissal. Then pity. Then sadness. That is what Iruka had felt when he said those words to me.

Frustration. Confusion. _Numb. _What I felt when I realized I hadn't passed.

Now I felt numb. I _was _a failure. Kyuubi was right, Mary was right, and Ezekiel had probably left because he couldn't bear to see me fail. A freak, with a demon in my stomach and not even completely human. No, not human at all. _Angel. _Why was the word suddenly so bitter?

I swung on that swing, head pressed down by shame, embarrassment and a whole myriad of emotions I was too tired to deal with. Why was I so affected by this? There was always next year, right? One more year to hide, one more year to practice, one more year to pretend I was normal. _Oh God, I don't think I can do this anymore. _

"Hey, Naruto."

I knew that soft, sickeningly sweet voice. It was Mizuki-sensei, silver hair not even comparing to Ezekiel's glowing sheen. None of these people compared with Ezekiel, or David, or Mary.

"Hey…Mizuki-sensei." I muttered.

"Are you alright?"

What a stupid question. I'd just had my dream ripped out from under my fingertips for the third time in a row. How did he think I felt? "Uh-huh." I mumbled, eyes tracing a pattern into the ground.

Mizuki let out a soft laugh, which immediately set me on edge. "Iruka just wants what's best for you, Naruto. He doesn't mean to be so harsh."

Slumping further into the swing, I muttered, "Uh-huh."

"Say, I know another way to pass. A secret way. I wouldn't be telling just anyone. I think you _deserve_ to pass."

I shot up in the swing, thoughts of suspicion and gut feelings of mistrust flying out the window. Pass? There was another way to pass? "What do I need to do?"

* * *

I slipped into the Hokage tower, using absolute stealth mode, which was actually decent. Heh. Sneaking away from ANBU did that to you.

Checking my surroundings to make sure no one was there, I slowly crept down the hall to where I knew all the big, cool scrolls were. The old man had shown me them, once, when he actually had had the time to get away from his duties. Now he mostly just spent his time holed up in his office, trying to get the paperwork done before the council started complaining. Heh. Sucks to be Hokage.

A long time ago, I'd aspired to be Hokage, thinking it would give me the recognition I deserved—well, thought I deserved. However, eventually it just sort of died (though the dream still held a special spot on my heart) because honestly, I didn't want to be doing paperwork with the council on my back and stuff. Plus, I couldn't bear being Hokage if I was always lying to my people about who I was, and what I had in me. Maybe if they found out whom I really was and still accepted me—maybe then I'd consider the dream again. But for now, it was just a childish hope from years ago.

Stuck in my inner dialogue, I didn't notice when the old man snuck up on me. "Naruto," He said, and I swear I jumped three feet in the air. "What are you doing here?"

My eyes widened to the size of dinner plates, and out of pure panic I resorted to the most childish jutsu in my arsenal, created in frustration when I'd been angry at Mary for some strange reason. I'd made it knowing that Mary would just blow her socks off in fury. That was the only time I'd ever gotten anything other than mild emotion from Ezekiel.

"Oiroke no jutsu!"

* * *

Muttering under my breath about perverts (I hadn't expected the technique to work; he was the Hokage, and no child could possibly come up with a jutsu to stun him, but to my surprise a spurt of blood flew out of his nose and he fell to the ground in a dead faint.), I scuttled down the hall, looking at the doors in an attempt to regain my bearings. Geez, seeing the old man react like that really shook me. Had no one really discovered his most obvious weakness?

Finally I arrived at the door, feeling a little perturbed about how _easy _it was to sneak into the Hokage tower, and reached up towards the smooth wood. Then I paused; what was I thinking, just reaching up to a door with a whole load of powerful scrolls? There was probably some sort of trap, or alarm or something!

Scratching the back of my head, a habit I couldn't quite seem to shake, I thought on it for a little bit, trying to process what I knew. 1. Jutsu were jealously protected secrets amongst nations 2. Most of the ANBU I knew of were devious and sadistic, but could never find outlets on missions because they had to act 'professional' 3. This was still looking too easy. Obviously there had to be some sort of trap on that door.

That's when I heard the loud clomping footsteps of a patrol.

Without thinking I threw open the door and pushed inside, landing on the floor amongst the shelves of dusty old scrolls. After closing the door behind me I pressed one ear to the solid wood and tried to see if the ninja was still there. Letting out the breath I'd unconsciously been holding, I clambered back outside to deal with the problem. Getting inside the scroll vault without setting off the traps.

I was literally in 'deep think' mode for about five minutes before I realized what had just happened. My jaw dropped in surprise. The hell?

Slowly I turned the knob on the door, blinking in shock when it opened without a problem. Really? Was that _it? _Wow, I really needed to talk to Old Man after I was finished stealing the scroll!

Scooping up the scroll that read in bold letters, 'forbidden', I quickly turned around to get out of the tower. Right now I was just asking for trouble.

**Wait! Kit! **Kyuubi shouted, and I scrambled back before the patrol crossed in the hallway. 'What, Kyuubi! I don't have time for this!'

**You idiot, you're not going to get another chance like this for a while! Go back and take some of the other scrolls, too! **

'_Are you insane?' _I hissed. 'I'm only doing this because I want to pass, not because I'm a criminal!'

**Kit, I'm pretty sure you know by now that Mizuki was lying. **Kyuubi growled back, and I was silent. I knew that Mizuki was lying, but…there was a small chance he wasn't. Besides; I could always claim ignorance and hold them to the fact that they'd promised to pass me if I learned a jutsu.

**Just do it! **Kyuubi roared, and I could practically feel the rumbling in my chest.

I flinched, not really wanting to do what I was about to do. Kyuubi was right, of course; I was never going to get another chance like this. Besides, would they really notice one other scroll missing?

Gently running my fingers along the scrolls, I examined each scroll with care, aware of the draining luck and time. One caught my eye: History of the Angels. My breath caught in my throat. Maybe…? Without thinking, I tucked the scroll into my pocket, watching with interest as the dust clouded in the air. This scroll had probably never been opened, at least not for a while; why was it even there in the first place?

Beneath that scroll was another one; one that looked even older and dustier. A scroll so covered in filth that I couldn't even read the title. Shrugging I stuffed that scroll in my pocket as well; couldn't hurt now. Then I turned with my prizes weighing my arms and my pockets and left in a flash of gold and orange.

* * *

"You have _got _to be kidding me!"

They probably heard me back in the village with how loud I shouted, but at this point I didn't really care. Who in nine hells would put a stupid technique like the bunshin in forbidden scroll? Skimming the lines to see if I had missed anything, I blinked in surprise and hope. I…I might actually be able to do this one! Near the bottom the little fine print had stated that making too many would result in chakra exhaustion. Now that sounded like my kind of bunshin!

"Kage bunshin!"

There was a loud poof, and next to me appeared a sickly little Naruto clone. It was pale; it was weak looking; but it was still better than all my other attempts! At my loud cheer, the clone smiled weakly before poofing into smoke. Wait a minute. Did it just _smile _at me? A clone? Well, the scroll did say they were supposed to be solid, but… emotions? Now that was new.

I rolled my shoulders before going into another attempt. "Kage bunshin!" Only one clone appeared this time as well, though it was in better shape. It had my healthy tan, and didn't look like a puff of wind would knock it over. "Hey, look at that!" I took a step back. Talking, too? "I'm real! Solid and stuff! This is so cool!" Then it abruptly disappeared after it leapt into the air and landed hard on the ground.

I grinned widely, suddenly able to see all the possibilities with this jutsu. Supposedly the clones were supposed to stand up to quite a bit more than landing hard, and when they did…training, pranking, everything! The possibilities were endless!

* * *

"Naruto! What do you think you're doing?" Knowing the storm that was about to come, I unconsciously rubbed the back of my head and leaned tiredly on the scroll. Now I could confirm my suspicious about Mizuki.

"Hey, sensei! Are you here to pass me?" I grinned widely, showing off my sharp canines.

"Naruto…pass you? What do you mean?" Iruka was immediately on guard. I knew it. Mizuki, that traitorous bastard.

"Well, Mizuki-sensei—" Iruka sucked in a soft breath at the mention of Mizuki's name. "Told me that if I learned a technique from the scroll I could pass!"

Iruka was stone quiet for a few minutes, staring at me with wide eyes, trying to check and see if I was lying. Apparently he decided that I wasn't, because he slowly closed his eyes and let out that breath he'd been holding.

That's when Iruka turned around and dodged the kunai that had been aimed at him, landing in a crouch next to me. Looking towards where the weapons came from, I hissed out a single word as I spotted a flash of silver in the trees. "Mizuki."

The traitor landed on a tree branch in front of us, looking incredibly smug with himself. His mouth was distorted into a wide, condescending smirk as he took in the grim student and the angry teacher. "Hello there, Naruto. You can give me the scroll now."

_And you couldn't have done it yourself? _I scoffed inwardly, remembering the lax security.

"Naruto, don't give him the scroll!" Iruka shook his head, disgusted, and addressed Mizuki. "How low of you, using innocent children to do your dirty work!"

Mizuki ignored Iruka, instead focusing in on me. "Naruto, let me tell you about a little law…about you!"

No way. You're _kidding _me.

"Years ago, the Yondaime sealed to Kyuubi into a child. That child was you! You are the Kyuubi!" Cue evil laughter.

I'm not exactly sure how to react to this, so I just frown and decide to mull over my decision later. Putting my hands in the now familiar cross wheel and ignoring Mizuki's expectant face, I called out, "Tajuu Kage Bunshin!"

Immediately the expectant face morphed into shock. "W-What?"

I tilted my head sideways. "I'm kind of not sure how to react to this, since I already know about Kyuubi. I'll get back to you about it later. _CHARGE!" _I shouted the last part, raising my hand in sync with the rest of the clones; well over a thousand.

I was a genin; he was a chunnin; However one thousand genin topped chunnin every time. Mizuki was lost under the many me's, screaming bloody murder. Hah. Take that, traitorous bastard.

When we finished, I turned back to Iruka, who was frozen in shock at either a) me knowing about Kyuubi and/or b)churning out over one thousand shadow clones. "Heh. Maybe I went a bit overboard…" I let out a loud laugh.

Iruka smiled, and I almost certainly knew what was coming next. "Great!" Panicked, I reached out and started to drag my sensei along. "Let's get ramen! You're paying!"

He chuckled, allowing himself to be pulled by my apparent exuberance. "Calm down, calm down! The ramen shop isn't going anywhere!"

Letting out a loud, fakey laugh, I pulled him all the way to Ichiraku's ramen shop. As much as I _wanted _this…wanted to pass, so, so bad…but I just couldn't help it; I didn't want to change, it was such a scary thought. "Hey, old man!" I shouted loudly at Teuchi, who laughed at me. "Naruto! My favorite customer! The usual?"

I nodded, the fears flying away from me with the promise of ramen. As much as they tried to stop me, as much as they insisted I needed proper nutrition, ramen was still my escape; practically my nirvana. Kyuubi hated it, Ezekiel hated it, Mary hated it (David just laughed), but still I would never leave it. Ramen…

Slurping down some noodles, I kept one cautious eye on Iruka, in case he decided to spring the news on me while I was eating. I sure hoped not. I still wasn't ready for it.

We ate in silence, a (mostly) comfortable silence, slurping the only thing being heard. _Slurp, slurp. _I felt slightly awkward, Iruka sitting next to me, turning every few seconds to open his mouth as though he was going to speak before snapping it shut again. Again, again, and I felt it beginning to grate on my nerves. Finally I tipped back the rest of the flavorful broth and sat back with a satisfied sigh. Iruka did that thing with his mouth again, snapping it open and shut again, before turning back to his ramen. "Naruto."

I turned slowly. "Yes, Iruka-sensei?"

"Close your eyes." He said, smiling softly at me.

"Um…okay, Iruka-sensei." I tried to sound as wierded out as I could, and reluctantly shut my eyes.

There was a rustling of cloth, and I felt a warm weight settle on my forehead. I knew what it was before I even opened my eyes.

"Congratulations, Naruto, you passed the genin exams!"

**Haha. Cliffy. **

**Now I usually don't know what to say during author's notes, and I still don't know what to say. **

**I tried to make Naruto believable as a human being—you know, the want…no, need to fit in, curiousity, a bit of childishness. Naruto won't be super powerful, though he will be a better ninja, since the other angels will be tutoring him. **

**Um…if you have any other questions, or suggestions of what I should put in the author's note, please tell me. **

**до свидания!**

**IceEckos12**


	4. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: Me no own Naruto.**

I ran.

At first nothing had happened when Iruka-sensei had told me that I had passed, so I'd been a little confused but a lot happy. So happy, in fact, that I was gracious enough to let him buy another bowl of ramen for me. It had been good, and full of warm spices, and all had been right in the world. I felt as though I'd dodged another bullet. Not so much, apparently.

The energy drain hadn't been all that noticeable at first, so it wasn't until I'd been laughing really hard at something Iruka said did I feel it. Feel the energy going, going, going…and settling in my back. At that moment, I'd known what was happening.

After bidding Iruka a hasty good-bye (I'd have to apologize for such an abrupt depart; poor guy was probably confused that he'd done something wrong) I pelted down the streets, ignoring the glares that followed me around. All I was focusing on was the fact that every moment it was getting a little harder to run, a little harder to put one foot in front of the other…and all the energy was flowing to my back, pulsing, taking shape…I stared blearily at the apartment door for a moment, wondering when I'd gotten there before fumbling with the keys and stumbling inside.

_So tired…_ I whimpered in my head. It was Kyuubi's fault, I suppose. I'd never gotten tired before, let alone completely exhausted, so I wasn't used to the effects. How do normal people usually do this? Sleep? Yeah, that was it. I flopped onto the bed, rolling onto my stomach and propping my head on the pillow. I'd slept like this for the whole of my life, though my companions found it strange. Swiftly shutting my eyes, I waited for sleep to come.

And waited…

And waited…

And… Gah! Why was falling asleep so hard tonight?

**It's because your mind is too active right now, kit. **Kyuubi interjected, sounding smug. **Stop panicking.**

'Panicking? I'm not panicking, Kyuu-chan. Why would I be panicking?' Okay, so it did sound a little like I was panicking, even in my head. 'Fine, dammit, you win. So I'm panicking. You would too! You don't have _wings _growing out of your back and draining all of your energy!'

**That I don't, kit, that I don't. **Kyuubi sounded even smugger than before.

'…I hate you.'

Kyuubi let out a low, rolling laugh as I shuddered, feeling my chakra beginning to ebb as well. How much energy did it take to _make _these things?

**It takes a lot of energy, especially for a half human. You might even have to start tapping into my chakra, kit. **

Never in my life had I been so tired, and I knew why Mary said I'd be a little 'vulnerable'. I probably couldn't face a civilian, let alone a genin. Actually, my chances up against a civilian were looking pretty bad as well. Civilians… my mind snapped into overdrive.

_Loud pounding on the door—today was my birthday, or when the Kyuubi attacked—I sat, huddled under my covers, wishing desperately that they wouldn't break in. _

"_Let us in, Kyuubi brat!" _

_I let out a soft whimper, wanting to be anywhere but right here. _

"_You deserve to _die, _demon!"_

_That was when the door broke down. _

_It was the second worst beating I ever got. _

I don't know how long I lay there; staring at the wall, petrified by the thought that _I was helpless and someone could just walk in and kill me like they tried before! _It may have been hours, it may have only been a few minutes, but I knew that I wasn't going to get sleep anytime soon, not with me reliving my nightmares and panicking even more than I originally was.

In, out. In, out. Remember to breath. In, out, in out.

Finally, I felt the energy drain stop, leaving me feeling weak and still a little helpless. At least it had stopped pulling on my reserves. Shakily I sat up, pushing against the wall in an attempt to steady myself. Not quite sure I wanted to see, I avoided looking behind me and stumbled into the kitchen, because I was hu-u-ungry. You know, growing a pair of wings is very tiring work and requires food afterwards to help regain energy (Just another excuse to eat my ramen).

That's when I noticed the room was a little brighter before, though the light wasn't on. _What's up with that? _I wondered, before shrugging. I did a double take when I realized all the light was coming from a central point—my back. _Well, crap. Going to be a lot harder to hide them if they flipping _glow.

Did I really want to see?

_Yeah, I think I'm ready._

I looked cautiously over my shoulder, hesitating before squinting my eyes to look through the bright light that seemed to be coming off the wings. It took a few minutes for my eyes to adjust to the bright light, but when they did, my eyes widened to the size of dinner plates. You know, it's not every day you see to enormous wings growing out of your back, even if you did expect them.

They were a strange, coppery color with brown, white and tannish streaks running down the feathers. The shape was perhaps a little hawk-like, more so than Mary, David and Ezekiel's, whose wings you just _knew _weren't normal—or even abnormal. They were…heavenly? Angel-like? Anyway, their wings didn't look like my wings—actually, my wings didn't exactly look like a hawks wings either. They were…somewhere in between, abnormal, strange, and…I suppose they were perfectly me, since I was strange…a half human, half angel needed weird wings, I guess.

I attempted to move the glowing wings, but they just sort of hang there, more like weighty, vibrant accessories than moving limbs. Perhaps something had gone wrong with the creation? Had I done something that I wasn't supposed to do? Think…nah, not that I knew of. I pushed harder, trying to reach out, and I was about to give up when…a twinge. Nothing that would set me off, but the twinge grew, and even when I backed off it kept growing. A loud crack filled the room, and a pain ran through me that was so excruciating my vision darkened and my mouth opened into a silent scream. There was a bright flash of light, and I found myself falling down, down, into the blackness.

"Of course he just _had _to get his wings! Not something a little less noticeable! Great, right when Ezekiel decides to leave for war!"

I frowned slightly, listening to Mary shout.

"Mary, you need to calm down. It's bad up there, you know it. Shinigami-sama is really powerful and all, but he can't control every district. He needs Zeke to back him up."

David—the voice of reason? Since when had that happened?

"Right…sorry. I keep forgetting you were the past right-hand man."

"…I'm not sure if that was supposed to be an insult or not…"

"Wow, David, you were Shinigami-sama's right hand man?" I couldn't help but pipe up. A long time ago, Ezekiel had mentioned that the right-hand man of the Shinigami was switched off every 1000 years, or earlier if they betrayed the angels. However, I'd never considered the possibility of David being the right hand man. Though Mary was the daughter of the Shinigami, so anything was possible.

"Uh…yeah, kid. Um…during 0 AD, wasn't it?" David said unsurely, addressing Mary, who nodded.

"That's so cool!" I chirped, problems forgotten. "Were you one of the best?"

Mary snorted loudly and David's face turned slightly pink. Ah, that answered my question.

"So what am I doing here?" I asked finally, knowing that if I was silent any longer the two would start bickering again.

"I think it's because you just completed the second stage." Mary shrugged, looking towards where Ezekiel usually sat before frowning and looking away.

"What was that…right before I passed out? I tried to move the wings, but…"

David grimaced. "I don't think the wings were fully…connected. Like…I think that the nerves weren't fully together, and when you forced them to connect really quickly, that might've done something to cause it."

"You know, we're probably going to have to give him flying lessons now." Mary pointed out, which made David's mouth twist. "I wish Zeke was here. He was always better about teaching little brats."

As I opened my mouth to protest, there was a loud banging that seemed to reverberate around the white space, and I was pulled out of the mindscape so fast I got a bit of mental whiplash.

My eyes snapped open, trying to see what had caused me to be pulled out so fast, and then I spotted it. The door was caved in, like someone had slammed against it but couldn't quite get in. I gasped as whatever had banged against my door did it again, nearly snapping it in half. Now usually, I would be out yelling at whoever decided to use my door as target practice, but some instinct that I usually buried reared its head and told me to get the hell out of there. There was something on the other side of that door that wasn't friendly, and dare I say it—not even human. Tugging on my jacket to make sure it was secure around my wings as I went, I slowly inched towards the window, hoping to get there before it broke through the door. Just as I was a foot from the window, the door finally gave and slammed against the far wall.

I stared in horror at what was on the other side, before whipping around and jumping out the window and onto the building across from mine, not stopping until I'd reached the academy. Whatever that thing was hadn't followed me, but I could tell it wasn't finished with me yet. Shuddering, I remembered what Ezekiel said: _"If you ever find someone like us, don't trust them. Never trust them." _

On the other side of that door had been a tall, black-winged, red-eyed angel.

"Hey, Naruto, this class is for those who passed." Shikamaru said, looking up at me with lazy black eyes. Then he seemed to notice how unsettled I was, as I'd been mildly paranoid of every person, and inconspicuous hiding place in the room. "Are…you feeling okay?"

I snapped out of my frantic room scan, and forced a small smile onto my face, though I was pretty sure Shikamaru didn't believe it. "Uh…yeah. Just a little freaked out by something. And anyway, I did pass! What do you call this?" I pointed one finger at my hitai-ate.

After a moment I heard Shikamaru's soft, "Troublesome." Before he went back to sleeping on the desk.

"Shut up, Ino-pig! Sasuke wants to sit next to _me!" _I heard Sakura squeal loudly, before she was answered in an equally high-pitched and annoying voice. "No way would he want to sit next to you, fore-head brow! You're so ugly!"

I looked for Sasuke, thinking it'd be hilarious to see his face, before I realized where I was sitting. Right next to Sasuke. _Aw, crap!_

"Naruto, you idiot! Get up, Sasuke doesn't want to sit next to the likes of _you!" _I stared at Sakura's vibrant pink hair, trying to see if it was natural or not (even after all these years, I could not tell if her hair was real) before I snapped, "Shut up and find somewhere else to sit! I was here first!"

We were interrupted from starting a nasty brawl by Iruka-sensei. "Sit down!" He shouted, using his big-head no jutsu.

Much to my dismay, Sakura managed to squeeze into the bench next to me and was currently trying to start a conversation with Sasuke over my head. "So, Sasuke, I hope we'll be on the same team—don't you?"

Sasuke didn't reply, just muttered, "Hn."

Sakura seemed to think of this as approval, and squealed.

Iruka announced the first few teams without trouble, and they quickly left with their jounin sensei's, who I was pleased to note were all on time. I hated waiting for people to show up, especially after this morning, when the creepy black angel had busted my door down. What if he followed me, and the jounin wasn't there to protect me?

"Team seven is Uzumaki Naruto…" I straightened, hoping I got someone like Shino or Hinata on my team. They seemed pretty nice last time I talked to them. Shino and his bugs were pretty cool too, and after I told him this he seemed perfectly happy with showing me all the species. Hinata was pretty strange, as she kept turning red and fainting all the time (was there something wrong with her?), but she seemed nice when I talked to her. "Haruno Sakura…" We both groaned loudly. "And Uchiha Sasuke." At that, I ignored Sasuke's glare and slammed a fist down on the table. "The hell, sensei? Why do I have to be on a team with an emo asshole and his useless fangirl?"

Iruka frowned when Sakura screeched at me angrily for insulting her and her precious Sasuke, while I stared at Iruka, pleading with him to let me switch teams. "I'm sorry, Naruto. These teams are decided, and in Team 7 it is traditional to put the top rookie, the dead last and the top kunoichi on it."

I slumped in my seat, defeated.

"Your jounin sensei is Hatake Kakashi." With that, Iruka continued on, while Shino and Hinata both gave me sympathetic glances.

As the rest of the teams were called by their sensei's, we waited in our seats, shuffling restlessly. I decided to take advantage of our sensei's lateness, and went into a meditative position before falling backward into the darkness.

"Alright, what the hell is going on?" I growled at the two angels in front of me, who both were looking at the ground guiltily. All of us were in front of the Kyuubi's cage, in the sewers, and the angels were just making the room look so much nicer with their brightness.

"Language!" Mary squawked, while David cleared his throat.

"That angel…you said had red eyes and black wings, right?"

"Not like Ezekiel's wings, which are kind of silvery, but those wings were pitch black and were kind of like those black holes you described to me; they kind of absorbed light." I described the strange angel at my door, really hoping for some answers.

David and Mary looked at each other quickly. "Yes, I'm afraid we do know him."

"Then who is he?" I frowned, trying to get some answers.

"Naruto…you know how Ezekiel said he was going off to fight in a war?" I nodded at Mary. "I can't tell you everything, but that man is one of the main powers on the other side. It looks to me like they want to capture you for some reason…but what?"

I couldn't answer, because the next thing I knew a fist had embedded itself into my head, and it wasn't in the mindscape. "Naruto, you idiot! Quit sleeping!"

I was so enraged that the next thing I knew I'd leapt from my seat and now had a kunai to Sakura's throat, and though I didn't know it my eyes went red. "I was meditating, nosy little—"

I caught myself before I could finish the sentence and checked the clock. _Huh. Mindscape for about…two hours?_

Stowing the kunai and turning away, Sakura backed up quickly and retreated to her Sasuke, who was watching me with a curious expression on his face.

Deciding to let my anger out on our late jounin sensei, or 'Hatake Kakashi', I grabbed a few things and fiddled with the door, setting the eraser on top to block the seal I'd put beneath it.

"That should teach him." I muttered, while Sakura looked like she wanted to stop me but was remembering the little episode I'd had when she punched me and decided against it.

Now I could do was wait.

**And so the plot thickens...Now I know I've made Sakura a bit of a...well, you know. But she will get better as the story progresses, just as she does in the manga. **

**Not quite sure what else to say, but I would like a beta for this story. My writing would be so much better if I had someone to edit it. I hope. **

**Silver Writing Bug**


	5. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.**

"_GAH! _Where the hell is our sensei?" I shrieked, finally at the limit of my patience. Wow. I lasted almost _two minutes. _What an accomplishment.

Sakura looked just as annoyed as I was, finally bored with staring at Sasuke. "What if he's in an emergency? He could be in trouble!" Inwardly, though, she was thinking: _For once, I agree with the idiot. _

Sasuke let out a "hn", which of course _no one _could understand. God only knew what Sasuke was thinking, the damn social ice block; he could be plotting to kill me, or plotting to kill sensei, or even Sakura. Or maybe all three. Yeah, definitely all three.

Rolling my eyes, I dug my head into my hand and looked away, feeling slightly annoyed that my teammates were still disrespecting me. We were a team now! Didn't that count for anything?

As I looked out the window, suddenly I understood why Shikamaru liked cloud-watching so much. It was so peaceful, watching the clouds go by, finding the shapes…so puffy and fluffy and white…with a black angel…Wait what? Squinting in alarm, I leapt over to the window (ignoring Sakura's questions and Sasuke's curious stare) and balked when I saw it more clearly. The black angel that'd been at my apartment door was floating there, near the clouds, staring straight at me. I shivered at his red-eyed stare, backing away slowly. _Gotta get away…_ I thought numbly, as we stared at each other.

_Crash! _I nearly shrieked in alarm, whipping around and throwing a barrage of kunai at the door, trying to defend myself from whatever had startled me so. Then I realized it was a silver-hair man, covered in glue and feathers, the kunai caught in one hand.

"My first impression of you three is…I hate you."

We all face-faulted while Sakura streamed out half-assed apologies.

"Meet me on the roof." He said, sounding bored, before disappearing in a swirl of leaves. I rolled my eyes. Show-off.

"What were you thinking, idiot? Now he hates us!" Sakura shouted at me, her fear of me fully evaporated. Huh, I kind of liked her fear. Made her _leave me alone. _

"_I _was thinking it would be really funny. Besides, he deserved it…since he was so late." I responded, not bothering to be nice. Sometimes—well, all the time really—she just pissed me off!

I felt her glare on me all the way up the stairs.

Normally I'd be a lot nicer, but I'd had a bad day; first, I barely got any sleep because of my goddamn _wings_ (they responded with an annoyed flutter), then some creepy angel shows up apparently trying to _capture _me, and the day before I had my emotions tossed in a blender after 'failing' the exams and Ezekiel leaving. I was _entitled _to be a little curt.

Kakashi watched us with a bored expression on the quarter of the face I could see; while I cautiously looked in the direction I'd seen the black-winged angel. Seeing nothing there, I turned to see Kakashi staring curiously at where I'd been staring, and when he looked back he eye smiled. "Why don't you three introduce yourselves?"

Sakura opened her mouth. "Well, sensei, why don't you go first?"

"Hm? Oh, me? Well, my name is Hatake Kakashi. I have many likes…and I dislike a lot of things. I have many hobbies. As for my dream…I don't really think about that sort of thing."

We all face-faulted. _All we learned was his name!_

"Pinky, go."

"My _name, _Kakashi-sensei, is Haruno Sakura. I like…" Sakura paused and turned a little pink, glancing as discreetly (read: as obviously) as she could at Sasuke. "My hobbies are…" Sakura turned even pinker, and glanced at Sasuke again. "My dream…" She giggled quietly and darkened to a deep red, still glancing at Sasuke, who remained apathetic.

"And your dislikes…?" Kakashi prompted, sounding like he really didn't want to know.

"NARUTO!" She shouted, and I flinched. What had I ever done to her?

Our poor, poor sensei sighed loudly, and gestured to me. "Blondie, go."

"My name is Uzumaki Naruto." I began, not quite sure how to go on about this. "I like…reading, and ramen!" My voice got slightly excited when I talked about my favorite food. "I dislike…Sasuke and his troop of fangirls, the three minutes it takes for ramen to cook, and people who surprise me." (Kakashi chuckled at that) "My hobbies are gardening and meditating. My dream…" I tilted my head to think. What was my dream…? To protect my precious people, of course. A long time ago, though, I'd wanted to be Hokage. Dreams change. "I just want to protect my precious people for as long as I can to the best of my ability."

They sat in silence for a few minutes, absorbing my words; I think they were surprised, by my depth. Sakura certainly was; she looked at me with a curious expression on her face, and so did Sasuke; I couldn't quite tell about Kakashi.

"Alright, Emo, go." Kakashi said finally, breaking the awkward silence.

"My name is Uchiha Sasuke." He growled through folded hands. "I don't really like anything, and I dislike a lot of things. My hobby is training. And my dream… is to kill a certain man…"

Sakura stared at Sasuke with wide eyes, before they slowly transformed into the hearts I was used to. Kakashi just sighed and shook his silver-topped head, and I felt the sudden need to break the mood into a million little pieces. I laughed.

They all whipped their heads towards me, Kakashi in amusement (and slight bemusement) Sakura in agitation and Sasuke in shock and annoyance. "This coming from the 'genius of Konaha'.You know, Sasuke, you're not helping with the whole 'fan girl' thing. I actually thought you wanted to get rid of them, not encourage them!"

Said boy blinked his onyx eyes slowly (probably trying not to bow down to me for my awesome idea) before he looked _very _slowly away from the rest of us. Kakashi I think was the most amused (besides me) about it all, and Sakura just looked like she wanted someone to kill.

Kakashi eye smiled. "Now that that's over, I'm going to tell you about the genin test."

Who was going to take the bait? Sakura bit.

"What do you mean sensei? I thought we already took the genin exams!"

Kakashi's eye smile suddenly looked a whole lot creepier.

"So glad you asked, my dear Sakura!" He chirped. I shivered. "The genin exams were a test to weed out the weak. You're the guys that even had a chance; though I don't know how." His eye smile didn't change, but I could just feel that he was smirking as Sakura gave him an outraged look. "The test tomorrow will actually show if you're worthy to become genin! Show up tomorrow at 7 o'clock sharp, don't be late! And don't eat, or you might be sick." With that he disappeared.

"Say, Sasuke! Do you want to have something to eat together? Now that we're teammates and all…" Sakura's fading voice said as I left the roof. I was just able to catch Sasuke's 'hn' before getting out of earshot.

* * *

Sasuke walked the streets calmly, quietly and stoically, just as he had most of his life. Yes, today was a nice day…the sun was shining, the air was clear, and yet…there was an uncomfortable weight hanging onto his arm that just seemed to ruin it…

"So, Sasuke, what do you want to do today?" Sakura chirped happily, radiating pleasure simply by being in her crush's presence.

Sasuke only glanced (read: glared) at her from the corner of his eye, which for some reason she either didn't notice or didn't care. Not for the first time Sasuke wondered if maybe she was sent by a spy of some sort, and her mission was to drive him absolutely _insane. _If so, it was working a little more than he would've liked. Maybe when her giant crush went away he could ask her for some tips on psychological torture…

Sakura smiled at Sasuke, misreading his glance. "Aren't you _sooo _glad we got on the same team? Pity we got that idiot Naruto, though…"

Unconsciously he let out a 'hn' in agreement; he was still slightly annoyed that the—the _dead last _got placed on a team with _him, _the genius. It wasn't fair at all that he would have to clean up the blonde's messes whenever he screwed up!

Taking the 'hn' as a sign to continue, Sakura began to rant. "I mean, he's so annoying!" A mental nod. "_And _he has no manners. He thinks he's so much _better _than you, Sasuke. Can you believe that?" Another mental nod. "He's the worst. He'll just slow us down!" A mental pause, a mental, _"Who is this we you speak of?", _and a mental nod.

"I never see his parents either, ever. Maybe he's a delinquent, and his family disowned him." _That would explain a lot about him. _Sasuke thought silently, still pretending to ignore Sakura. "Wouldn't that be so funny?"

"Hn." He answered sullenly, still wishing he could be anywhere but right there.

"I didn't know he liked to _garden, _either. Gardening is for girls!"

"Sakura?"

"Yes, Sasuke?"

"Please shut up."

"Okay, Sasuke!"

...

"So, Sasuke…"

*Sigh*

* * *

Kakashi frowned through his mask as he examined his students' files. Sasuke and Sakura's were pretty straight forward; Sasuke was a revenge obsessed ice cube, Sakura a Sasuke obsessed fashion possessed drama queen. He really hadn't gotten the vibe 'smartest kunoichi' from her, but that could just be his imagination. However he could imagine Sasuke being powerful, though Kakashi was beginning to feel like it was a bad idea to actually give the boy something to kill his brother with. The kid was _mentally unstable. _

The person who'd surprised him the most, he mused, was probably Naruto. In his files, it'd said that Naruto was stupid, had almost nothing going for him except enormous chakra reserves, and was quite prone to doing pranks on almost everyone. While it was true that Naruto didn't seem to be the brightest bolt in the box, and the chicken feathers and glue was enough to convince him of the 'pranking', he was still slightly confused. Naruto had created a seal, and not a simple one at that, to prank him. Either the academy was giving false reports or Naruto was hiding his skill in sealing. Of course, he might've just gotten it from someone else, but the seal had been unfamiliar, so unless he was learning from a master Naruto had created the seal himself. If the report hadn't known about this particular skill, than what else had it skipped over? What other skills was Naruto possibly hiding?

Kakashi sighed and tugged his hitai-ate back over his left eye. Looks like his troublesome blonde student was going to take some figuring out.

* * *

I hummed a jaunty little tune as I watered my plants, pausing to sniff one of the flowers before moving on to the next one. Methodically making sure the soil was wet; I plucked one of the ripe tomatoes and popped it into my mouth, smiling at the taste of my efforts (delicious, of course). The others probably hadn't understood my love of gardening, and that was okay with me. It was so peaceful, and also…I don't know if it's selfish or not, but I love the feeling of creating something with my own two hands; creating a life. There was also a thrill of fear, whenever I forgot to water my plants in time; I always felt like I was betraying my plants, like they'd trusted me to water them in time.

The feeling of being relied on was addicting.

When I finished, I pulled out a basket and began picking the ripe vegetables, noting unhappily that there weren't that many. After all, I couldn't just _live _off of ramen, so I often relied on my plants to make my food. Shop keepers always over-priced the food they sold to me, so I avoided them as much as possible. Letting out a long sigh, I brought my basket to the counter and began washing the produce, wishing yet again that I had more room. This apartment was crowded, even for just one person.

Glancing to see if the windows were open or not, I carefully removed my jacket to look at my wings again, and shook my head. It was still a shock to see them there. Drying off the last tomato and putting them in the fridge, I slowly extended my—my wings (It was still so stranger to think like that) and fluttered them, seeing just what I could move.

I soon found that my wings, while I didn't have the best control over them, hurt. Whenever I slammed them into the counter a bit too hard? They hurt. Moved them funny? Hurt. Ouch.

Deciding that this was a project for another day, I pushed the problem of my wings into the back of my mind, and flopped onto the bed, the problem of the survival exam rearing its head…

**Here's the next chapter! The strange angel appears again, Sakura gets on Sasuke and Naruto's nerves, and Kakashi gets suspicious! Oh, the drama!**

**Heh. **

**Silver Writing Bug**


	6. Chapter 5

**No own Naruto. **

"_Angels were originally created as messengers of the Shinigami, made to be the soldiers of life, assisting the Bringer of Death with his many magnificent deeds. Indeed, Angels are often sent to the earth when something does not require the Shinigami's immediate attention. One would think that Angels are willing and kind creatures; however this is a misguided notion. These heavenly beings are much like people, and they do not wish the title of being the Shinigami's messenger; they often say that being an Angel is much like being a glorified messenger bird." –Excerpt from 'History of the Angels'. _

Let it be known that Abaddon was not a patient angel.

While Abaddon was over thousands of years old—he'd been a new angel at the time of the First Great War—that did not do anything for his patience. In fact, if anything, the years had stretched his patience almost the point of snapping entirely (but it hadn't snapped, thankfully; if it had the Hidden Villages would all be toast—toast with blood as butter and explosions as jam).

And this brat that he was supposed to be capturing was most certainly testing his thin tolerance for humans—especially half angel humans.

Abaddon hadn't been told _Ezekiel _was taking care him, either! Bad enough that the Shinigami's daughter and a former General were taking care of him, but Ezekiel, too?

He was _so _not paid enough for this job.

Not that he was paid. At all.

He'd have to fix that.

Things were only getting more dangerous as the half-angel got stronger—got closer to being full angel (which would most _certainly _throw a wrench in his plans). It was just a very _large _stroke of luck that the child hadn't received the full powers, which would've been amplified ten-fold by his tenant. They needed to get the child before his full powers came in.

And when that happened…

Victory would never be so sweet.

* * *

I rubbed my eyes blearily, watching in fascination as the words began to dance across the page; words I was supposed to be reading.

As soon as Mary had figured out what I'd done (stole the extra scrolls from the vault) she'd freaked out, either from happiness or anger I'm not sure. Anger, I could understand, but happiness?

Apparently I'd found the lost history of the Angels, something that'd been missing for decades. So what was it doing in the Old Man's vaults? Even I wasn't so sure. Maybe the 'Professor' had just randomly picked the scrolls up, recognizing their rarity, or something, but I sure wasn't going to ask and find out.

_It's too late to be reading any longer…_ I whined to Mary, hoping she'd answer my plea.

'_You idiot! You read to the morning! You're going to miss the test! Get moving!' _She shouted back, which caused my head to jerk towards the clock. _I'd read all night? _

'_MOVE!' _Mary shrieked, making my inner ears ring. I jumped out of bed, throwing 'History of the Angels' back onto the desk and shrugging on my jacket while simultaneously grabbing an apple from my cupboard and stuffing it into my mouth. _No way was I not eating. Sorry, Kakashi-sensei. _

I didn't pay attention when I threw open the door, so it's really no surprise I didn't sense the chakra signature right outside. Can you guess who was outside my door? If you guessed the creepy black-winged angel who wanted to capture me, you're correct!

To my credit, instead of freaking out like I usually would've done, I calmly shut the door, locked it, and moseyed over to the window. There was a loud creaking noise, and I knew that the angel was testing the strength of my front door (again), so I quickly leapt out and jumped on the roof next to mine.

Really, this angel was so persistent, always following me around. What was with him? _Very _creepy. His intimidation tactics were starting to get weak, and soon he'd be as scary as toast…never mind. Toast is very scary. My toaster oven exploded once, and I got hit in the face with it, which left a bread-sized burn on my face for a few days. Kyu-chan wouldn't heal it because he was laughing so hard.

Besides toast, the angel was ceasing to freak me out.

When I got where we were supposed to meet, I was greeted with the sight of a sleeping Sakura and a brooding Sasuke. They both looked like they'd gotten as much sleep as I had last night, though it was harder to tell with Sasuke with him and his stupid stoic face.

Ignoring both of them (though it was very tempting to hit Sakura in a pressure point to see what would happen) I flopped onto the ground and started going over what'd I'd learned from the history of the angels.

So a long, _long _time ago, Shinigami-sama got bored (yes, bored—do I have to repeat myself again?) and had decided that he needed to create some heavenly beings to help him with the massive work load he was dealing with (Massive work load my ass—who has enough time to create a new _species?). _Humans were great and all, but they were puny, tiny mortals who liked blowing themselves up and frankly, while explosions were cool, it got very, very boring. So he picked up some mortals, let them cook in some radioactive-magical goo, and overloaded them with chakra and, _voila!_ Angels a la mode.

With that success, Shinigami-sama used the original formula to make a shortcut to make new angels; the original seven (why is it always seven?) angels were called 'Great Generals', because their powers were undiluted by the 'shortcut'.

There was a lot of useless information in between (including a familiar story about a Great General who got demoted because he gave a mortal woman some Fountain of Youth), but the most interesting thing that happened next was the First Great Angel War.

See, one of the Great Generals got tired with just being second best, and attacked Shinigami-sama for the top spot. The other generals defended their leader (two died in the first attack), and the angel was forced to retreat—where he gathered a bunch of other angels who supported his cause and bided his time for a year or two. Then, he attacked the Shinigami-sama mercilessly. It looked like a stand-still; but then, the other angel raised some hell-hounds and the like from the Underworld, promising freedom, and sent them to attack along with the armies. This was called the Last Battle of the First Great War, and the tide was slowly turning in the enemy angel's favor; for a while it looked like Shinigami-sama and his army would lose. Even the great God himself was in the front lines, hacking away at those bad-boys. When they were finally backed into a corner, and all hope was lost (of course) Shinigami-sama pulled some incredible trump card that killed the other army in one fell swoop. No one knows exactly what the trump card is, and no one was brave enough to ask. The ones who'd survived fled to the Underworld, where they stayed until the Second Great War.

I haven't gotten to that part yet.

It was getting boring just sitting here doing nothing, so I decided to got exploring. I got up from my position at the base of the tree (ouch—note to self, _trees are uncomfortable) _I brushed myself off and began to nose around the place we were meeting.

It was a clearing like any other, except for the fact it had three stumps or logs or whatever sticking out of the ground, surrounded by overgrown grass. It didn't look like it was used much, if at all; there were no tell-tale signs of a person training with Goukakyuu, no little holes where kunai had entered the ground. Was this place abandoned for a reason? Either it was taken care of very well or no one used it.

There were lots of trees in the area, and the training area was pretty big, so there were lots of places to hide—and put traps. If I played my cards carefully, I could set up something here that would catch Kakashi-sensei off guard! That is, if the situation called for it.

I cracked my knuckles and pulled out some ninja wire. Time to get to work.

* * *

When Kakashi arrived knew what he expected; Sakura leaping up and shouting, "YOU'RE LATE!", Sasuke giving him a typical Uchiha glare, the kind that could freeze volcanoes, and Naruto sleeping or something along those lines. He was mostly correct; Sakura leapt up from where she'd been playing idly with her hair and shrieked, "YOU'RE LATE!", and Sasuke had given him the glare. But where, oh where was his little blonde student?

"Good morning. Where's Naruto?" He asked, oozing boredom.

Sakura calmed down momentarily to insult her comrade. "I don't know. I didn't see him come, that little idiot. If he gets us all in trouble, I swear I'll…" She was halfway through a speech about just what she was going to do to me if I didn't show up when I showed up.

"Hey." I said, pulling a spider from my hair as I clambered out of the trees. "Sorry. It's pretty easy to get lost in there." Not to mention I'd been dodging all the traps I'd set up, but that was beside the point.

"Glad you could join us." Sensei said, giving me an eye-smile. Then, he plunked down a clock, and pushed a little button. "Now it's set to noon."

Okay, what?

Noting our confusion, Kakashi eye-smiled deeper. "Here are two bells. Your task is to take these from me before noon. Those who don't get a bell by noon…" Pause for dramatic effect… "Get no lunch. I won't just tie you to these stumps. I'll eat my lunch in front of you."

Simultaneous thoughts: _So that's why he told us not to eat. _

_Ah, well. I had an apple, so I'll be okay…I think. _

"You only need to get one bell. There are only two, so one of you will definitely be tied to a stump." His tone grew darker as he spoke. "And if you don't get a bell, you fail, which means one of you will go back to the academy."

The wind blew eerily as the silence pronounced those ominous words, and I felt that I was standing on a barren plain, very alone, just as I had been years ago. My teammates were my enemies now—why would Kakashi make us distance ourselves from each other like this? Was he doing this on purpose?

Hm. May require some thought.

I blinked to attention when Kakashi continued. "You can even use your shuriken. You won't succeed unless you come at me with the intent to kill."

At this I chuckled, which made the others look at me funny, so I elaborated. "Kakashi-sensei, you force us not to eat, you tell us we'll fail if we don't get the bells from you, and you expect us _not _to attack you with the intent to kill?" I chuckled again and shook my head. "Really, I thought you smarter than that. You're not a very good jounin, are you?"

"I hate to say this, sensei, but for once I agree with the idiot. There are three of us and one of you—you'll get hurt!" I was mildly surprised when she agreed with me, but shook it off. Really, thought—her agreeing with me was pretty creepy.

"I'll let you be the judge of that." Our sensei said (which put me on edge—he was being much too happy about this).

"Now when I say start, you start. When the timer rings, you stop. Everyone understands? Good! Now start!"

**So I was on vacation, and I got lazy and didn't write the chapter. Now it's here, though. So...sorry for taking so long. **

**And so the mystery deepens. Why does Abaddon want Naruto? Who is he? Who is Ezekiel? And so on.**

**Silver Writing Bugs**


	7. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: No own Naruto. The angels are mine.**

He was just sitting there.

Reading his weird little book.

As soon as we'd dashed into the trees, he'd rummaged in his kunai pouch a bit (I thought he might bring out some super-secret weapon) before pulling out...a book.

An orange book.

I formed a cross seal, staring out at Kakashi-sensei with an incredulous look on my face. _Isn't he going to take us seriously? _

My newly formed Kage Bunshin sent me a quiet glare. "Why am _I _the one who has to do this?" He complained softly, voice barely rising above a hiss.

"Because if _I'm _hit then _we're _screwed."

The Kage Bunshin thankfully saw the wisdom in that, and nodded his head minutely. "Got it, Boss." Then he melted into the trees, taking off.

_Okay. _I thought, sitting cross-legged on the ground and shutting one eye (keeping the other eye on sensei), pressing my stick-straight finger pads together. I'd actually based the pose off of Nara Shikamaru's 'thinking pose' whenever he got into a spot of trouble in shougi. I'd played him a couple times, and had seen the pose only once or twice; however once he finished thinking, he'd come up with a brilliant move I hadn't thought possible. When I tried a pose that was similar to his, I found it helped me clear my thoughts. _There's got to be some hidden motive to this, that's what Kyu-sensei always said. What do I know? He told us not to eat, which was kind of stupid, it only made us more mad at him…and it left us without energy. I'm certain he didn't just make us not eat for the energy. So why would he want us snappish? Then there are the bells. What's with those? It's almost as though he _wants _us to fight each other…but we're supposed to get the bells from him. Speaking of that, how strong is he, really? I know we're really weak, but if he thinks he can take on three of us at one time he's a little…_

_Wait. That's it! _

_We're supposed to all take him on at one time. Like…teamwork! He made us not eat so we'd be moody, lessening the chances of us working together! Also, he used the two bells to pit us against each other even further, when we're only supposed to work together! _Genius, _Kakashi-sensei! _

I grinned triumphantly and pulled out of my 'thinking pose', just as my clone sent the kunai out at Kakashi-sensei.

See, I'd been wondering if he could still 'see' us when he was reading, and had sent a clone out to test this. That way, my position wouldn't be revealed, and if he went after the clone it would give me more time to think up a plan.

What I didn't expect was for Kakashi-sensei to actually _catch _my clone's kunai and throw it back _at _the clone, effectively dispelling him. Then—I swear, this creeps me out—he looked up, straight at where I was hiding. _How did he spot me…? _I thought, sitting stock still. _"He's a jounin, you idiot." _Nearly leaping up at the sound of Mary's voice, I managed to control myself. _Mary, you'll never believe how glad I am to hear you! _

"_Yeah, yeah, brat." _This time it was David. _"Good job for figuring it out. Mary was _so _proud of you." _

I sent them a mental image of me beaming widely, which made David laugh.

"_Hey, Naru-chan." _Uh-oh. Mary _never _used that tone _or _that nickname unless she _really _wanted something.

"_Please, please, _please _use Tengoku no bunshin?" _Ah, I should've expected.

A while ago, Mary, David and Kyu-chan had come up with a special technique called 'Tengoku no bunshin', basically meaning 'Heavenly bunshin'. It created a clone, but not of myself; it was literally a clone of Mary or David themselves; it even had their wings down to a T. That wasn't the best part of the bunshin, though—the best part was that it _transferred _Mary and David's consciences into the clone. However the clones weren't as powerful as the real things, though they were still very strong.

_Fine. You guys can be a distraction while I go find Sakura and Sasuke. _I let out a soft breath, and ran through the series of seals necessary for the clones. The reason I was so reluctant to use them, though, was the fact that it took so much chakra from me it was almost scary.

"_Tengoku no bunshin." _I breathed, and then, standing in front of me in all their glory was Mary and David, glowing brilliantly and basically just looking _angelic. _

Kakashi looked up and snapped his book shut, staring at the angels with an incredulous expression on his face.

David turned and smirked at me, before the two of them disappeared in a flash of light—and were suddenly next to Kakashi, attacking him with incredible strength. _That'll keep him busy for a while. _I thought, sneaking away as sensei reached for his hitai-ate, barely able to dodge the angels' furious attacks. _Now, if I were a Sakura and a Sasuke, where would I hide…? Come out; come out, wherever you are…_

* * *

Abaddon nearly jumped out of his skin when _Mary _and _David _appeared out of nowhere and began attacking the targets sensei. They glowed with their heavenly energy, flashes of white light attacking a small grey figure.

He knew exactly why Mary and David were placed with Ezekiel to protect the vessel; while they argued all the time, and were generally considered to be unable to work together, anyone who'd seen them fight together would know differently; they were a _machine. _They were two gears, perfectly oiled, that fit together flawlessly, that turned the whole contraption and made it do amazing things.

He watched as Mary did an uppercut, and when the sensei leaned backwards, David came from beneath, fist poised to the back of his head—the sensei twisted to the side at the last minute, but still got clipped, and Mary spread her wings and flapped over the grey hair, landing on her hands and flipping onto her feet as David twisted and went for the sensei's legs, who barely managed to replace himself with a log before it got smashed to pieces, but Mary was ready for the kawamari; she went for a kick to the family jewels, and when he dodged David came and went for his neck—

It was breathtaking to watch the two fight; he could tell that the puny mortal of a sensei was tiring quickly, even with Raphael's gift implanted in his left eye. _What a waste. _Abaddon sneered to himself, watching the eye spin and dance in an attempt to keep up with the two heavenly beings. _Raphael did not leave to have his gift planted into some trash! _

That's when he noticed something strange about the two angel's; their glow was softer than when he'd seen them last. _Have they gotten weaker since being in the brat's head…? _He wondered, narrowing his eyes. _No, impossible…twelve years of inactivity would not even dent their skills. So what…? Oh. _His eyes widened. _Oh. Oh, shit. _

Abaddon didn't like swearing. He didn't care for swearing. Swearing was for human rabble, he often said.

But now was a very, very, _very _good time to swear.

* * *

"Um…what?" I stared at Sasuke's head. _Just _his head. He'd been _buried _up to his head.

Somehow, that was much funnier than I thought it would be.

Sasuke sent me his signature _glare _as I laughed, which only made me laugh _harder, _because it was so much less effective when he was blushing and buried neck-deep in the ground.

I think I may have had an epileptic fit when I noticed Sakura not a few feet away, passed out, foaming slightly at the mouth.

"Just shut up and get me out!" Ah, he'd had enough of me.

I knew what I had to say, but couldn't quite get it out because of my laughter.

"Hehe…" I rubbed a tear from my eye, still grinning. "N-No, Sasuke-teme."

"What?" He growled, staring at me incredulously. "Let me out!"

"N-No," I let out another chuckle, gasping for breath. "'Cause this is the only chance I'm, hehe, going to have to talk to you."

Now he was surprised, though his cool Uchiha-exterior didn't reveal anything, and he looked away, gritting his teeth angrily. "I don't have anything to say to you."

"Use that famous Uchiha brain, idiot." I poked his forehead (and though I didn't know it at the time, I'd stirred up the memories of a certain psychotic Uchiha-brother) and grinned, showing my foxy teeth. "He told us not to eat to make us irritable, and he used just two bells to pit us against each other. And really, has there ever been a two-man team before? Besides, no _genin _can take on a _jounin _by ourselves. It's like he wants us to fight. So what is the point of this test? Huh, Sasuke?"

At first I think he was going ignore me and be a hard-headed idiot, but then his eyes lit up with realization. "Teamwork!" He breathed, before looking away quickly at his show of emotion.

"Yup. And unfortunately, we'll need Sakura, too." At this, we both looked at the unconscious girl, and grimaced.

"Kage bunshin." I murmured, forming the seals, and three clones appeared. I pointed to the first one. "Wake up Sakura." Before the clone could complain, I pointed to the other clones. "You two, help me dig up Sasuke."

As we began to work at the earth around Sasuke, he looked curiously at my clones. "What are those?" He asked, furrowing his eyebrows. _He's asking me? _I thought, giving Sasuke a sideways glance. _Whatever happened to Uchiha pride? _

"They're Kage bunshin; shadow clones." It wouldn't hurt to tell him. "They're solid, see?" I poked one of them in the side, and it let out a hiss. "They take a _lot _of chakra, though."

As I found the top of Sasuke's shoulders, his eyes lit up with something akin to _excitement. _"You have to teach me that jutsu!"

Ah, of course.

But…maybe it would be beneficial to start an alliance with the ice prince.

"Only if you agree to teach me Goukakyuu." I held out a hand, smiling quietly, as the other clones dug up his arms.

He looked at me, then at me hand, then back at me, before smirking and leaning forward slightly to grasp it. "We have a deal, dobe."

**O_o**

**I bet you weren't expecting **_**that. **_

**So yes, Sasuke and Naruto now have an 'understanding'. What's with that? **

**And what about 'Raphael's gift'? **

**Hm…You'll just have to find out.**

**I'm pretty proud of this chapter.**

**Silver Writing Bug**


	8. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: No. Naruto not mine.**

Metatron let out a long, drawn-out sigh, and pressed his face into his pearly-white desk. Seraphiel, dressed in light body armor sat next to him, idly picking at some food that'd found its way onto his wing.

"I'm so bored." Metatron whined to his bodyguard. The naturally silent and stoic angel who'd been assigned to the idiot gave him a long side-ways look, before going back to ignoring him.

Unperturbed, the almighty secretary continued to moan. "'Celestial scribe' Shinigami-sama said. That's what he told me. He told me I was important. And you know what he told me my job was? I could've been writing down history, like Kiraman and Katiban. I could've been the librarian, like Pahaliah. But _nooooo, _instead I get to spend an eternity in heaven as the damned secretary!"

At this, Seraphiel, quick as lightning, flicked his wrist. A fraction of a second later, a gleaming silver blade buried itself inches from Metatron's prone head.

"Gaaah!" The secretary yelped and leaped back, wings instinctively pressing around him in a comforting barrier. "What was that for?"

Seraphiel was quiet for a few seconds, stoically extracting his blade from the desk, before he let out a low, simple growl. "You're annoying."

Metatron let out another long, drawn out sigh. "I thought we were friends!" He complained, and lowered himself back to the desk. "Shinigami-sama put you up to this, didn't he." There were a few moments of blessed silence, in which Seraphiel let out a soft, relieved sigh, and continued to play with his wing feathers.

It lasted only a minute.

"I miss Gabriel. He appreciated me…"

Seraphiel slammed down his fist, drew his short sword from his belt, and lunged for Metatron's throat—

A whirlwind of feathers plunged through the doors and landed on the floor, giving the two quarreling angels a heart attack.

A second later Seraphiel drew his broad-sword, glowing white with celestial energy, and sheathed his short sword. With little effort he leapt onto the desk in front of Metatron, before flipping off and landing in a battle-ready position in front of the writhing mass of feathers.

Metatron reeled back and pulled a small black dagger from his sleeve in case the intruder managed to get past Seraphiel, before tugging a piece of parchment from the confines of his desk and pulling a long glowing feather from his wing. He made a quick scratch on the paper with the feather (it left a golden streak behind), and settled so he could still see the battle.

He was, after all, a celestial scribe. He had to record what happened, screw Kitaman and Kiraban.

The writhing mass of feathers settled, leaving bronze wisps floating aimlessly around the room. The mass of feathers on the ground was breathing heavily on the ground, and it looked awfully familiar…

"Gabriel!" Metatron shouted, leaping over the desk. "Thank heavens you're okay!"

Gabriel, who had until recently been on the front lines of the battlefield, flopped onto his back, moaning in pain. A long scar stretched from his shoulder to his thigh, though it was already healing. All in all, Gabriel looked worse for wear.

"A message…to Shinigami-sama…" He gasped out, then winced, and rolled over. "Urgent…Help me up, Metatron…Seraphiel…"

The two angels instantly complied, taking his powerful, muscled arms in their own and lifting him to his feet, letting him lean on them. It was no mean feat; Gabriel was very big and strong.

"Thank you…" He smiled, eyes half closed.

"What's the message, Gabriel?" Metatron prodded, earning a look from Seraphiel.

"News from Ezekiel…" Gabriel bent over, curly golden head shaking slightly. "Abaddon has targeted the prime…"

"No!" Seraphiel nearly dropped the Messenger; for a moment, Metatron and his spindly arms struggled to hold Gabriel up, before Seraphiel quickly helped him. "But what about David and Mary? And Ezekiel? Shouldn't they be able to protect him?"

"Ezekiel is needed on the front lines," Gabriel said cryptically, eyeing Seraphiel steadily. "David and Mary are not as strong because they are in the mind field of the prime. They have been discussing a plan with…" Gabriel trailed off, and shook his head. "It's a very dangerous time. More and more angels are being taken as POWs."

"Who?" Metatron asked, though he was more curious about who Mary and David were discussing the plan with. "Who has been captured so far?"

"Mostly just soldiers—none of the seven, none of their helpers. Thankfully." There was a very sad note in his voice as he spoke; after all, no soldiers being captured are better than any at all.

"How is the war going?" There was just a hint of fear in Metatron's eyes; the cowardly secretary hated even the thought of battle.

Gabriel's earthly green eyes were distant and old. "It is a battle of two great powers. At the time there is no thought on who will be the victor. Just bloodshed."

* * *

"So what do we do?"

Sakura had immediately dispersed my clone with a fist to the face (ouch—that had to hurt), and was now sobbing loudly on 'Sasuke-kun', wailing something about blood, death, and a head. She was most likely put under a genjutsu—after all, Sasuke was alive and unharmed.

Anyway, with a new ally like Sasuke, it would be so easy to get Sakura to work with us—and claim those stupid bells. With Sasuke's brain, my clones, and Sakura's…whatever…we were certain to win.

Sasuke twitched at my question, before bending down and tracing some lines in the dirt. In the end, all I saw were a bunch of squiggly lines and x's, but Sakura was crooning to him about his incredible art skills. I tilted my head to the side, then switched sides, but still could not figure out what on _earth _he'd drawn.

"Right…Sasuke, what is this?"

"Baka! It's…!" Sakura finally stopped fawning over Sasuke and looked at the drawing. "It's…Sasuke, what is it?" She did not appear in the least bit embarrassed. Girls are so weird.

"It's a battle plan, _idiots." _Sasuke gritted his teeth. I chuckled.

"We could plant traps _here," _He pointed toward the little dots. "While Kakashi is distracted, we could confuse him with a genjutsu," He indicated the little x's. "And Naruto, you could overwhelm Kakashi with your clones while he's caught." He leaned back, smirking in triumph, obviously thinking that his battle plan was infallible.

I stared hard at the plan. "…Nope, still not seeing it." At his annoyed stare, I shrugged. "No, I mean I got the plan, but the drawing…you have terrible art skills."

Cue Sakura's loud shrieking.

I twisted a finger in my ear and wrinkled my nose. "Sasuke…make her shut up."

Sasuke gave me an incredulous stare, and it took me a moment to realize that A) Just because we were allies didn't mean we were buddy-buddy all of the sudden, and B) Every second Sakura screamed at me was another second she wasn't paying attention to him.

After a few seconds, Sasuke got tired of Sakura shrieking at me. "Sakura, you know genjutsu, right?"

The pinkette stopped shouting, and glanced at Sasuke. "Yeah, I guess…it's not very good, though."

"It'll be good enough." I interjected, smiling to soften my words. "I can get Kakashi-sensei over. You better be ready by then!"

I ran off, leaving my two teammates behind me.

* * *

Meanwhile, Kakashi was seriously _freaked out. _

One minute he'd been enjoying his book, keeping an eye on Naruto, sending clones to chase after the other genin, when two _winged beings _had jumped out of the bushes and started _attacking him! _And not only that, but the only person who was close by was Naruto—so either they had come from _him_, or they were spies! Either way, it was bad news.

Thankfully, they were slowing down.

The bad thing: he was slowing down too.

Now that he looked at the two of them, he realized that he was actually faster—it was just the pair's _strategy, _their complete _trust _in one another was what made them so hard to fight.

The male angel clipped him in the shoulder, and the force was so great Kakashi span around and hit the dirt—and had to roll away as the female landed where his head had been.

Then she paused, looking over the tops of the trees, as though listening for something, though Kakashi could not hear it. After a few seconds, she nodded, turned to her partner and blinked to him. He blinked back.

And suddenly Kakashi was flying through the air, though he hadn't seen either of them move. The wind blew past him with such ferocity that his hair whipped wildly at his face, stinging where it hit. Trees flew by him, some missing him only by inches. After a moment of shock, Kakashi curled into a ball, spun once, then landed in a crouch on the ground, alert and ready for any attack.

The strange beings had been _playing _with him. They were obviously more volatile than he'd originally thought.

He took a step back to hide in the trees, only to jerk forward when his foot hit a tripwire. Unfortunately for him, it was too late to back out. His world exploded, and he only just managed to dodge the giant fireball that detonated in his face.

I have to admit, that was probably the highlight of my day.

Sakura, who'd been standing nervously in the trees, (all the while marveling at Sasuke's incredible trap-making), quickly realized that _now _was the best time to cast her genjutsu. She hurriedly weaved the chakra, watching her teacher with weary eyes.

The genjutsu was light; it was simple; it wouldn't have slowed an alert, experienced jounin at all; however, this jounin was slightly disoriented from the fireball and still shocked with the strange clone's/spies/Whatever the hell they were. The genjutsu took hold, and I took advantage of this by creating a dozens of clones and sending them to converge on his future sensei.

* * *

"Well done, all of you." Kakashi eye-smiled at them, which caused one student to cheer, one to smirk, and one to grin widely (Can you guess which one of us was who?). "However, there were still some flaws."

I flinched, knowing that we were probably about to get a major lecture.

"Sakura, we'll start with you!" Sakura, on my left, flinched as though knowing what was coming; I couldn't help but feel sorry for her. "Your performance was a little disappointing, considering your academy grades. First of all, you did nothing to assess the challenge; you were much more focused on other things." Kakashi eyed Sasuke, who looked like he was going to cringe, but just managed not too. "You made _no _attempt to take the bells _at all! _You just went looking for Sasuke. Did it even occur to you to think of Naruto?"

She hesitated, and then shook her head shamefully.

"You were _so _panicked when you saw Sasuke injured; you fainted, which is very unbefitting of a kunoichi. However in the beginning you showed some skills in stealth, and in the end, you did help out your teammates (though it was only because Sasuke told you too). You also showed some skill in the genjutsu area." Kakashi nodded, and sighed. Her performance was the most disappointing of the three genin; Rin was probably rolling in her grave that a girl like this had ever _attempted _to be a ninja. Though his former teammate was a fangirl, at least she knew _something. _

"Next, we'll go on to Sasuke." Kakashi addressed the black-haired Uchiha on my right—the bastard had decided that since we had a 'partnership' now, I could protect him from Sakura. "Your performance was as expected; you did not care about your teammates at all in the beginning; you thought of them as nuisances that would get in your way, and instead tried to fight me one on one—did it never occur to you that I was a _jounin _and that it was pretty much impossible for you to beat me?"

Sasuke didn't say anything, just glared. _Typical Uchiha response. _

"However, you did show some skill in trapping and taijutsu—you _nearly _got the bells, but nearly isn't good enough. Did you even _consider _teamwork? Is Naruto going to think for you every time?" Sasuke let out an indignant snarl. "In the end, though, you did come up with a viable plan to get the bells, and even formed a makeshift alliance." Kakashi added the last part as an afterthought. "Good work."

Sasuke's chest swelled up like a balloon with pride. I grinned over at him, and when he caught my eye he blinked, and his lip twitched.

_Oh my God, did Sasuke nearly just smile? _I thought, shocked. Then, I shook my head. _Nu-uh. No _WAY.

"Naruto!"

I jumped to attention. "Sir!"

"I like that reaction." Kakashi eye-smiled at me, while I blushed furiously. It wasn't _my _fault that before I'd come to the academy I'd gone to a military boarding school!

Right. I should probably explain that.

See, when I was younger—five or six or so—I tried to go the academy. However, there were so many _complaints, _so many children being taken out because of me, that Jiji had to take me out. Instead, he sent me to a military boarding school in a little town in Fire Country until I was eight, and then I came back to be a ninja. I was actually pretty proficient in military tactics and self-defense—and could _also _fly an airplane, which I have to admit, is pretty freaking cool. Not as cool as flying, though; you know, _real _flying.

"Naruto, I have to say your performance was the most _unexpected _in a _good _way.

"The first thing you did was assess the surroundings and set up multiple traps in the forest; I didn't expect it, so I spent a few minutes dodging your clever little tricks. However, I know for a fact that Sakura and Sasuke spent a bit dodging them; this tired out your teammates." He gave me a pointed look. "When you first began the task, you did something that was unexpected of the dead-last; you sat down and thought about the challenge. Then, you tested out whether or not I could still react while I was reading my book." Kakashi chuckled, while I shivered. My poor, poor clone…

"You then made several clones to keep me distracted while you went to go find your teammates." The sentence was matter of fact, but I knew that he was just buzzing to know what the _hell _they were. "When you did find them, you managed to get Sasuke to listen to you, which you knew was the key to getting Sakura to listen." Kakashi eye smiled at me, and my eyes widened in shock and happiness. "Good job, Naruto."

Good job.

_He said good job. _

My grin widened exponentially, and I knew that inwardly I was throwing a party in my head—most likely David and Mary would throw one for me. That was just the way they were.

Then, when I realized that a certain Uchiha was leaving, an idea sparked in my mind. "Oi, Sasuke!"

Sasuke turned around, looking as stoic as usual, though there was still a note of distain in his eyes. "What?"

"Why don't you and I grab a lunch?" I grinned. "We can discuss our trade agreement there."

For a second it looked like he was going to refuse; then, he nodded slightly.

* * *

Just before I left, Kakashi called out, "And by the way, Naruto, you and I are going to have a little talk tomorrow!"

Later that night, I lay on my bed, wings stretched out to take advantage of the privacy (keeping them wrapped up was annoying—they were starting to get sore)_, _lazily swinging my feet back and forth. On the pillow in front of me, lay the _History of the Angel's, _the golden words glittering on the page.

This time, I was reading about the generals.

_The original seven generals were human once; however, after they were bathed in a mysterious concoction, they found themselves with wings and immortality. _

_The first born angel, Ezekiel, was the Shinigami's assassin; he could easily blend into the background, and strike with the speed of light. Humans often consider Ezekiel as the symbol for darkness. _

_The second born, Michelangelo, was the general of Shinigami's great army; he was highly skilled in battle tactics, and could fight like a demon. Many general's pray to him for luck before entering a battle. _

_Lucifer, the third oldest, was the Shinigami's advisor; he was highly intelligent, and looked at life realistically. Before the First Great War, Lucifer was often portrayed as a scholar, and because his name means 'Morning Star', he was often thought of as the star in the morning._

_The fourth oldest, Raphael, was the Shinigami's healer; he was extremely proficient in medicine, and could heal almost anything. Raphael's caduceus was considered the symbol for healing, and many doctors begged him for luck during dangerous times. _

_Azrael, the fifth oldest, was the angel of death; when humans were about to die, he appeared to them in a golden light and carried their souls to the afterlife. Azrael was the 'bright light' humans saw before dying. _

_The sixth oldest, Gabriel, was the Shinigami's messenger; he was exceptionally quick, and could cover hundreds of miles in just a second. Gabriel is often mistaken for a comet, or a meteor. _

_David, the youngest, was the angel of love; he was a romantic who enjoyed creating 'soul mates', and preached the wonders of 'true love'. Due to his short stature, David is often thought of as a cherub, though he doesn't carry a bow and never goes around naked. _

_Everything changed when Lucifer turned; he got greedy, seeing all the power of the Shinigami all the time. He converted a small band of lesser angels, and attacked the Shinigami; He struck down Azrael, and as Raphael was going to heal him, he struck down his younger brother as well. _

_After the attack, Azrael and Raphael went down to earth to take forms—the Juubi and bloodlines, respectively. _

"What?" I blinked, staring at the page. "Oi, Mary! David! What does this mean?"

I felt their presence come forward, and I directed their attention to the bit about Azrael and Raphael going to take forms.

There was a momentary pause.

"_Oh, well." _David began, perhaps a bit awkwardly. _"Well, angels are immortal, right?" _

I nodded.

"_So what happens when we die?" _

Ooh. I hadn't considered that.

"_Well, we go down to earth and take forms. Super powerful earthly forms."_

"So Raphael actually created the first bloodlines?" This was hurting my brain.

"_Yes." _Mary butted in. _"Your sensei had one of Raphael's gifts. He used it well, for one not of that bloodline." _

"Right." Okay, too much info. "And what's the Juubi? The ten tails?"

There was another, more prominent pause, and then they both responded simultaneously. _"Classified information." _

"_That's enough for tonight, don't you think?" _Mary said, obviously trying to direct my attention away from whatever the Juubi was. _"Big day tomorrow. First flying lesson! Get some sleep—you're going to need it." _

I frowned, sighed, and put the book under my pillow. _"'Night, Mary, David." _

"_Night, Naruto." _

**And that's a wrap! I'm sorry I haven't updated in a while—I lost a bunch of notes for this story and couldn't update until I found them. Also, I procrastinated a bit. **

**I hope that this chapter explains a little more about what I meant about 'Raphael's gift'. **

**Naruto is going to have some explaining to do…**

**Note: This never will be a SasuNaru, you hear? Never ever ever. **

**About the military boarding school: It's an idea that I've never seen people use; wouldn't you think that parents would take their children out of the school? It's like when they first starting integrating the black children into the white schools. **

**Also, one reviewer asked me to change from first person to third person. Usually I would (First person drives me crazy, too), but I'm trying to keep this as close to the original story as I can, and the original was in first person, so...*shrugs* **

**And one more thing I've been wondering: I have another story up, a D. Gray man/Naruto crossover, and for some reason it is more popular than this story. It has few chapters than this story. WTF? **

**Silver Writing Bug **


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